by ersatz_cats
Just a quick update for you all. We almost have a verdict in the epic court battle between gaming legend Karl Jobst and disgraced cheater Billy Mitchell. The Queensland court website has been quietly updated with a new hearing date:
Remember, we’re talking Australia stuff. So that last item is not January 4th, thank goodness. It’s April 1st, which really means March 31st for slowpoke Americans like myself. Yes, the judgment in the Karl Jobst case will be delivered in Brisbane on April Fools Day lmao. For all the nonsense that’s gone on in this and the other Billy Mitchel lawsuits, it does seem a bit appropriate, although assuming Karl wins I hope this doesn’t mean there’ll be any take-backsies.
That’s it. That’s all I got right now. Just wanted to get this update out the door, so people can stop speculating, and so that poor “Day 7” comment section can finally get some rest. If you have no idea what all this is about, please check out my extensive coverage of the trial so far, at the links below:
https://perfectpacman.com/2024/09/15/karl-day-0/
https://perfectpacman.com/2024/09/16/karl-day-1/
https://perfectpacman.com/2024/09/17/karl-day-2/
https://perfectpacman.com/2024/09/18/karl-day-3/
https://perfectpacman.com/2024/09/19/karl-day-3-4/
https://perfectpacman.com/2024/09/20/karl-day-4/
https://perfectpacman.com/2024/09/24/karl-day-5/
https://perfectpacman.com/2024/10/11/karl-day-6/
https://perfectpacman.com/2024/10/23/karl-day-7/
Oh, and speaking of Billy Mitchell stuff, if you’re wondering what I’ve been up to, normally I don’t drop a lot of clues about my next project until it’s near completion, but I have been working on something longer than my usual fare. No, it’s not more gushing about Dragon Quest, lol. It’s a big multi-part write-up covering the entirety of the Billy Mitchell / David Race phone recording lawsuit, front-to-back, cover-to-cover, soup-to-nuts. There’s a lot of crazy stuff in that case which I’m only finding now that I’m taking the time to really comb through it all. No ETA, and it definitely won’t be finished before the Australia verdict, but it’s pretty far along. Watch this space for that in the coming months.
Here’s wishing Karl good energy for what’s sure to be a stressful two weeks.
Great stuff š
Assuming all goes well, I was wondering if you could do an interview with Karl and post it here.
It’d be like the final installment to finish everything off š
And I’m hoping this judgement goes Karl’s way. Win or lose though, here’s hoping we can leave the whole Billy Mitchell saga behind.
I’m looking forward to Karl’s vid though, it should be a banger š
I’d love to do an interview with Karl. I’m sure we could make that happen. But it would probably be better on YouTube (like my interviews with Justin Elliot and Robert Mruczek) than text.
It is really sad, in my view; the path and the decisions that Billy Mitchell made. Even if he wins, he has lost the respect of much of the retro gaming world. He did not need to be the āgreatest video game player of all timeā. There really are not many retro video game celebrities out there, and true fans would not have cares if he was āthird place.ā
Agreed. Dude couldn’t get over his own ego.
GBF started his path in an era when being “the best” was all the rage. Unfortunately, much like his fellow Floridian on the console gaming side of the coin, he let that goal get the best of him. That “South Park” cartoon episode had him pegged down to a “T” with his having to be “first” in everything. Small wonder he announced that big event in the MTV segment in 2000 (which he never did because Wiebe came along and stole some of his thunder).
GBF also was not just content with being “first” with the score rankings, claiming over the years to be the first to get to a DK “kill screen” (reported, perhaps, but as a matter of fact worldwide, unprovable). He also claimed to being the first to discover the “no-fire” trick in “Galaga”, the “DKJr” warp trick and the no-enemies “Q*Bert” trick…all of which are unprovable. AND then there’s the “first perfect pacman” BS.
Who knows…if the lawsuit does not go well for him, he might be the first in his family to go bankrupt.
if he SIMPLY could have accepted the fact that records get beaten and records change hands maybe his entire legacy in gaming would have been markedly different…but that simple perspective seems to be beyond his capacity after so very long as it is now ingrained into his personality to be regarded as either number one or as the best this-or-that. That entire Japan-plaque BS from decades back cemented this into his personae and was a PR stunt orchestrated with his symbiote (i.e. Walter Day).
I said it before, and I will say it again…I don’t hate the man (GBF), but as a former referee I could not stand then nor now his endless need for grandstanding and arrogance/false bravado in gaming.
That guy who donated the Neo Geo to ACAM in NH and made that video…that was a personae. But with GBF, that’s his real personality. I used to say on the forum back when I was still a supporter of him that there were “two” of him…one for the media, and one which was the real deal. Now, I’m not so sure as over the past near-two decades they are pretty much one in the same.
Robert Mruczek, I appreciate your feedback. You are greatly respected and admired by the gaming community.
Glad to see the update. Thank you
On an aside, I’ve been most curious what his nemesis, Roy Shildt, is thinking about these proceedings, so I checked out his website and it is gone !!
His “shockandawesome” site, which hasn’t been updated even since the trial began, NOW indicates “coming soon to register.com” and the wayback machine’s last “snapshot” of it is from October of 2024 and as recently as January of 2025 it indicated site not available.
He had interview on youtube during pqndemic, i tried to linked it to you but it seems being marked as spam months back. He talk alot about billy score too just search “scene world podcast Roy Shildt” he dont care about billy score he buy its real since he worries they would purge old acores including him also he more cares with gwr gaming listing
One last thing Robert, it’s better to move on about Roy, before the grudge you keep repeating become another meme, been a while but basically :
Roy Legs already fucked him over,as people who last saw him witness during a con. his wife force him to get rid his prized missile command machine, all he worries is the GWR record he still on and he also clinging to the hope his book or comics taken by producer into movie or the sort.. I like Roy as a video game asshole, the more you mention his antics the more I am amazed lol he worse than i thought obviously.
in the end Robert you will eventually be remembered with better legacy compared to these other classic gamers heck I lost respect to Dwayne after his creation of fake pacman anniversarry fiasco
Roy is pretty much a chapter in classic gaming history now…and I seriously think that we won’t be hearing from him anytime soon.
The very last time that I am 100% sure someone reliable made contact with him was within the final several months before Tony Temple’s book was published. I was told that he made contact with Roy…I do not know who initiated the contact…and that while the call started amicably Roy quickly went into his usual “shtick”.
What he’s done, he’s done…and it makes for good forum fodder at best at this point. His last indirect involvement with me was his last series of “YouTube” videos in which he accused me of being the REAL owner of TG !! Those always cracked me up š
In truth he was not “as bad” as Rudy Ferretti and his nonsense. Basically Rudy was a more social media savvy and technically well-versed version of Roy and he resorted to tactics that even Roy would not dream of. But again, that’s another chapter in classic gaming history, and a sad one at that.
Roy was right about Billy and right about Twin Galaxies long before they were both proven to be frauds. He deserves his props. Remember, you came around to the truth only when it was proven to the general public. Roy had the guts to tell the truth before it was proven and before it was the popular opinion. You owe him an apology for the way you guys treated him in the past. He was right and you and your buddies were wrong.
Roy was right about GBF cheating…but his accusations were NOT based on empirical evidence, they were at the time merely conjecture that just happened to turn out right.
But considering his many…MANY…antics over the years, in my case from 2001 thru approx 2014 or 2015…I don’t owe him an apology. Not especially after he nearly got me fired from my place of employment. Thankfully Jace shut him down on my behalf at that point.
I think the Roy Shildt stuff is more complicated than many people want to admit. Yes, he was correct about Billy and Todd and company being frauds, but like Mruczek says, there’s nothing empirically to say this was based on real evidence. And the problem there is, seeing who Roy Shildt is, it becomes impossible to separate his hunch from – though I hate to use the word – jealousy for being left out. Of course, Billy and Roy could never coexist, as they both want to be top dogs, and since Billy was more socially and politically savvy, it makes sense that Billy kept his seat inside the vanguard while Roy got exiled. And while Roy was indeed wronged in a sense (having to continually advocate for his on-and-off-again score), his abusive streak has been acknowledged by many, and I don’t think Mruczek should have to apologize under those terms.
Going back to the time before the MAME evidence, when Billy was just this cocky clown in King of Kong who was ridiculously full of himself and butthurt over having to share the stage with Wiebe, I don’t think enough people who saw that and thought “Man, this guy’s insufferable” realize Roy Shildt would’ve been every bit as insufferable in that position. They just like him because he happened to be the thorn in the side of the guy who, for the moment, had won. While I don’t mean to be rude, as this is a direct reply, I think many folks who like Roy do so because he pisses off people they want to see pissed off, not because they truly want a gaming community where “Mr. Awesome” is left to his own devices.
Yes, Roy Shildt was correct about Billy being a fraud long before most, but I don’t think it was wrong for folks like Mruczek, or myself, or anyone else to wait for a more concrete threshold of evidence than Roy was eagerly willing to accept.
Well said, EC !!
What a lot of people probably don’t realize is the full extent of what dealing with people like Roy (and Rudy) were like. Calls at almost every hour of the day, to both home and business numbers, a never-ending amount of negative social media posts, and THEN there were the really bad antics such as my nearly getting fired because Roy kept on badgering my company’s receptionist non-stop and it got WAY out of control.
Rudy was not opposed to sending me “packages” to the mailroom of my place of business, and I’d rather not get into what the contents were.
Some of the worst antics from Roy…calling a fellow referee during a relatives funeral proceedings so as to again press his “Missile Command” claims, and then pestering the rehabilitation center that a certain classic arcade gamer was at so often that they shut down ALL incoming calls at that point, for a short while anyway.
He also called every single one of the supermarket franchise locations in Florida where Chris Ayra worked just to pester him as well. And then there is this which has to be read to be believed.
Remember an old TV show episode about some kid with certain powers who effectively became a “Missile Command” champion ? Well Roy contacted as I was told the office of the president of New Line Cinema, the company that had to do with production of the TV series, and he pretended to be calling from the school of the president’s child or children claiming that there was an emergency. So the receptionist patched the call thru and then Roy quickly proceeded to complain about that TV episode.
So for all of this, and a heck of a lot more, I really do not have any reason to apologize to Roy with the sole exception perhaps for mis-spelling his name as “Schildt” instead of “Shildt” with some of my earlier posts as a TG referee. BUT, since Walter had someone relegate my original TG account to “Guest” status AND as most of the pre-2013 TG forum has since been deleted, that’s all moot now.
Hopefully this can all be put behind everyone involved. Can’t imagine how stressful it has been. Only question remains is how much will the winner gloat?
I think Karl will have a wry smile on his face with a little hint of “F U” in his video, but I can’t see him gloating too much, it’ll be more of an angry response I guess.
As for billy, if he loses, it could be his whole world falling down and even worse. He’s the maker of his own demise, and he’s very offensive on stuff, so it’s his own fault, but i can only imagine how he’ll feel being in 1/2 mill debt with loss after loss in court.
It’ll be a tough pill to swallow that’s for sure.
Regardless of who wins, collecting a judgement will be difficult if not nearly impossible. Anyone as litigious as GBF is likely creditor proof. He Probably has no hard assets in his name. He will be out his legal fees but I doubt he will be paying Karlās fees or costs anytime soon. I hope I am wrong however.
I have to imagine that over the past several years GBF has been moving assets into his wife’s name.
I have to imagine that his biggest “assets”, besides his home (which is untouchable under Florida law), would be his stake in the family business and whatever remaining liquid assets he may still have. And without being an expert on tax law and family business ownership, I am not 100% sure that his stake can be handed over to anyone outside of his own family (i.e. mom/dad, brother(s) and sister(s) however many there are).
So my guess, again if the judge rules in Karl’s favour, is that his stake in the family business is going to come into play for sure as I do not believe he will have, or even want to, dish out mid-six-figures to anyone. The problem is the value of the family stake he has…with the current economy, “dining out” may be severely curtailed, which would definitely have an adverse impact on any stake valuation. Heck, it may not even be enough to cover a judgment in Karl’s favour, never mind GBF’s own legal fees…and good luck with him trying NOT to pay those !!
Time will tell what happens. And no matter what, I still cannot get over to this day how a grown man is in court for several years over his “Donkey Kong” and “Pacman” scores. I’m certain that this whole ordeal created MASSIVE stress on his family unit…and was it truly worth it, regardless of how it goes ??
IF the judge rules in Karl’s favour, my first guess is that GBF will declare personal bankruptcy.
GBF still believes that he “won” in the outcome of the TG lawsuit, but the damage to his reputation is done and all the travels down a “Road to Redemption” of future “perfect pacman” attempts won’t do a thing to change that.
I’m wondering if…again, in the event that the judge rules in Karl’s favour…whether there will be any caveats included in the ruling, such as GBF is NOT allowed to promote on social media the notion that Karl lost the judgement/ruling decision. GBF has already demonstrated the capacity to quickly run to social media (as he did after the TG outcome) to promote the notion that he came out ahead.
But all the spin-doctoring in the world will not help him if the judge rules in favour of Karl.
Now, if the OTHER possibility happens, be prepared for a whirlwind series of posts and interviews…probably starting with East Side Dave, and probably some social media lies coming from Casey Ross in short order.
But in case GBF loses…he has BOTH Karl to pay AND his own lawyers, and I’m willing to bet that he stiffs both of them should that happen.
BTW, on an aside, I’m curious what his “expert”, Zyda, has been up to as of late. That quack should have been fired from the university that he had tenure at immediately, tenure or not. Why a university would allow such a quack to infect the student body with his BS is beyond me.
Chip Rivers here. I do look forward to reading your next pieces on the David race saga.
Last we talked in comments was about Dragon Quest, I completed the game.
It was an experience that I was so surprised that I enjoyed so much. As I had already played Dragon Quest games before. Recently Dq9 before that, but this i did not expect to put in an hour to three everyday playing and the experience being just so darn fun.
Dragon Quest was very new to me and I thought it would be like repeating and not as much fun as I had imagined in my head when I saw the box art for the game. It was like it said HD 2D and I did not know what to expect. It sounded like 2D but just some rounded pixel edges to HD and boy was I given a trip to a place in my head that was pure nostalgic joy.
Because of that experience and the effort that Square Enix went to, I mentioned that because I was so impressed with Dq3 HD2D that I would give FF7 remake a try. This was again something that I would not have probably done hadn’t been blown away by Dq3s update.
FF7 original experience to me was like I was half enjoying it (playing it on a ps2 in 2008) and then half lost when navigating certain points in the map system. I enjoyed playing FF1 to FF6 on the playstation 1 with the remastered ones which were 16 bit or 32 bit updates. Anyways it was hard to appreciate the story and understand materia and summons.
Playing FF7 Remake was like being able to understand and appreciate the game in a way that had me addicted and playing longer hours a day than Dq3 hd2d. I never thought that was possible. I ended up learning the game really well and it kept me playing over 4 hour to 6 hour goes someday.
I beat it and I was proud that I did it considering that it is real time combat. It was hard to get used to and I almost put the game down thinking that they had gone too far with the combat system. I ended up playing in my own. way with full control normal at around the halfway point.
I am now playing FF7 rebirth and that is even better than remake. Im half way through that with about 70 hours and have done every quest so far.
All these were the PC version.. I am running a laptop with a 4060 rtx a G6x 9kg gigabyte I picked up in canada for cheap. I’ve fun everything on max quality and 1080p and I get 60fps.
I have to tell you that you should do reviews of these games. Amazing..
Pretty sure EC has an article on this very website about what happened to Zyda. I wonāt spoil the details, but wowzers itās cringey as heck.
That one RE Zyda I read…I was curious as to how that quack is doing now (i.e. still at the University, still has tenure, or personae-non-grata at that place, etc).
Personally he should have been laughed out of his position by the entirety of that school’s Board of Directors as well as all of his colleagues…the man is a quack and even worse than the proverbial snake-oil salesmen from the old west.
April 1st LOL
I was under the impression Zyda was quietly encouraged to retire by the university (presumably with a heavy implication if he didnāt, heād get fired) but I cannot for the life of me find anything about that.
I did find the following link having to do with his retirement (May 15, 2023) but nothing to suggest that he was forced out or encouraged to leave.
Might be one of those behind-the-scenes things that we will never know of find out about. And we know dang well that he won’t be voluntarily sharing any such details either.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/02/06/founding-director-of-usc-games-sued-for-sexual-harassment/